Synthetic benchmarks

Update June 29: We re-ran the benchmarks with the retail Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet and saw the same scores in all but the JavaScript Kraken 1.1 and HTML 5 BrowserMark tests.

The Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset, and enough has been written about it to revisit it all again. What could potentially work in its favor in this case is the sheer area that the designers have for heat dissipation, though with the plastic back and limited thickness you can't really engage the entire surface.

What also needs to be pointed out again is that the review unit we have for testing is a preproduction prototype, so it may not be entirely representative of the performance of future commercially available models. The prototype status of the device is likely the reason why most benchmarks we installed were rejected by the device and immediately uninstalled. We still managed to run a few tests, and the results can be found below.

We threw in the comparison the HTC One M9 and the Samsung Galaxy S6. Obviously, the flagship phones have little to do with the Xperia Z4 Tablet in terms of form factor. However, the Galaxy S6 can provide a good comparison of the S810 versus the Exynos 7420 when both have to deal with QHD resolution (OK, WQXGA versus QHD, but still close enough).

Meanwhile the One M9 is the latest device we had with the same S810, so it should be an indication of how things stack up between brothers. There hasn't been an S810-powered device above FullHD resolution in the office before the Xperia Z4 Tablet, so that's the next best thing.

Out of the compound benchmarks we managed to run only Basemark OS II, and the Z4 Tablet really has nothing to hide. The overall score is easily the highest among competing tablets, including the iPad Air 2 and the Nexus 9, but it also beats the Galaxy S6. The Sony tablet pulls ahead from a worse starting position.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet2045

Apple iPad Air 21937

HTC Nexus 91890

Samsung Galaxy S61769

HTC One M91526

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact1141

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)829

LG G Pad 10.1529

Graphics performance turned out solid, as well. The offscreen scores (rendered at 1080p resolution) put the Xperia Z4 towards the top of the bunch, though the iPad Air 2 is significantly ahead in the lighter T-Rex routine.

Moving to onscreen results (at the respective device's actual screen resolution) the Z4 Tablet still lags behind the iPad Air 2 and the Nexus 9, but those have a 2,048 x 1,532 pixel resolution which is only 77% of the Z4 Tablet's pixels. The Sony Tablet actually manages to beat the Galaxy S6 in the more intense Manhattan test.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

Apple iPad Air 270.4

HTC Nexus 960.2

Samsung Galaxy S659

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet54

HTC One M949

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact27.7

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet27.5

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.125

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)22.5

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

Apple iPad Air 232.6

HTC Nexus 931.5

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet27

Samsung Galaxy S624

HTC One M923

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact12

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet11.7

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.18.1

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)5.6

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

Apple iPad Air 252.2

HTC One M950

HTC Nexus 946.2

Samsung Galaxy S638

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet37

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact28.1

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet27.4

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.117

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)14

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

Apple iPad Air 224.7

HTC One M924

HTC Nexus 922.6

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet16

Samsung Galaxy S614

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact11.7

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet11.3

Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.14.7

LG G Pad 10.13.8

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)2.9

Basemark X paints a similar picture with the iPad Air 2 on top, followed closely by the Nexus 9. This time though the Galaxy S6 is in front of the Xperia Z4 Tablet.

Basemark X

Higher is better

Apple iPad Air 229753

HTC Nexus 928244

Samsung Galaxy S627169

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet23298

HTC One M919848

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact12911

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos)6875

LG G Pad 10.1807

Browser performance was exemplary too. We have a new record holder in the Kraken 1.1 JavaScript benchmark, and you guessed it, it's the Z4 Tablet. However when we ran the test again with the new unit we received the score dipped quite a bit. The pre-release Sony tablet posted a respectable BrowserMark 2.1 score as well but the retail unit once again showed a lower score. This could be due to the use of different browsers - the first tablet we tested had its own browser while the latter uses only Google Chrome.